This invention relates to apparatus for testing railway car brake equipment and particularly to a valve mounting arrangement for such a brake valve test apparatus.
Brake control valve test devices, such as the manual "AB" Test Rack shown and described in WABCO Instruction Pamphlet No 5039-19 Sup. 1, issued April 1991, and published by the Westinghouse Air Brake Co., Wilmerding, Pa. are provided to test service and emergency portions of various vintage brake control valves, as well as other railroad braking devices according to test codes adopted by the Association of American Railroads. The test procedure is complex in that an array of manually operable control valves must be manipulated in a prescribed sequence, combined with monitoring of pressure gages and timers.
More recently, automated type test devices have been introduced, such as that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,596,500 which not only removes the need for highly trained personnel, but also eliminates human error in carrying out the required sequence of tests.
In either case, however, the test operator is required to physically mount and secure the valves on a test fixture. As can be seen in the aforementioned Patent, the valve to be tested is mounted sideways to the operator's station in front of the test fixture, thus requiring the operator to lift the valve over the test fixture and into position on the appropriate mounting studs projecting from the fixture end. Not only is this task cumbersome, but is also results in severe physical strain due to the relatively heavy weight of these valve devices.